The New Republic

The Obama National Security Council has a new director for WMD terrorism and threat reduction in Laura Holgate, a vice president at the Washington-based Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI is a private nonprofit outfit, chaired by former Senator Sam Nunn and funded by the likes of Ted Turner and Warren Buffett, that has done yeoman's work in helping the federal government address the WMD threat. READ MORE >>

Why is it that the dirtiest minds so often belong to those who want to control the sex lives of other people? The New York Times has an excellent dispatch this morning from Diwaniya, Iraq, where a number of women in the town have taken up wrestling. This has, predictably, drawn a response from local conservative figures: READ MORE >>

Yes, Bill Clinton's visit is the big story in the North Korean media, but the state-sponsored Korean Central News Agency is making sure other important news gets reported, such as this story: Pyongyang, August 4 (KCNA) -- On an autumn day of Juche 68 (1979) General Secretary Kim Jong Il dropped in at a railway station for a while on his way to the east coastal area. READ MORE >>

Remember the Boston cop who wrote the racist email about Gates-gate? He's suing: He's demanding unspecified damages for his pain and suffering - and an end to efforts by Police Commissioner Ed Davis and Mayor Tom Menino to bounce him from the force, at least without a hearing. I guess there was no way this whole thing wouldn't produce at least one lawsuit. READ MORE >>

So I woke up today to this tale, courtesy of the Republican Party: The coffee was still brewing when Chris Ann Cleland got her first reminder of the day that voting for Barack Obama might have been a mistake.  READ MORE >>

Wolffe At The Door: The Radioactive Book Proposal From MSNBC’s Much-Maligned Pundit/Publicist, by Gabriel Sherman Why Obama Should Not Waste His Time Speaking Directly To Israelis, by Shmuel Rosner READ MORE >>

At the end of a long post about obesity--part of an ongoing debate she has been having with a number of other bloggers--Megan McArdle considers the possibility of government action and writes: READ MORE >>

Not to pile on Malcolm Gladwell (whom I generally like a bit more than Isaac), but his contrasting Atticus Finch--and his stoic response to Tom Robinson being found guilty--with Thurgood Marshall makes no sense. Gladwell writes: READ MORE >>

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I like that Bill Clinton was careful not to show up in North Korea wearing a goofy smile. Remember how that shot of Obama's grin with Chavez became something like a three-day story. --Michael Crowley READ MORE >>